Reflections
by pinkphoenix1985
Summary: An AU for 5x04—“The End”. Dean lands in the future and has an interesting and enlightening conversation.


**Disclaimer: **I honestly don't own them but they're fun to play with

**Reflections**

Dean woke up in his hotel room which looked totally destroyed, the furniture looking run down. He got up and went to look out the window.

"Hello, Dean," Came from behind him. Dean spun around and there stood Sam, the future Sam, evil, a long way away from what his Sammy was like, dressed in a white tux with his long hair sleeked back.

Dean growled out, "What do you want?"

"Dean, is that how you greet your little brother?" Sam replied lounging against the dresser.

"You are NOT my brother!" Dean snarled, "You're just a son of a bitch demon who's using his meat suit."

Eyes flashing black, Sam laughed, "I beg to differ. I am Sam Winchester in the flesh."

When Dean didn't respond to that, he continued, "well, on second thought, the Sam you knew is dead unfortunately. He was unable to live this life, too much inherent good in him."

"What are you talking about?" Dean hissed.

Sam tilted his head sideways, "Why don't I just show you?" as he gestured towards the mirror that hung on the wall. As Dean stepped closer, the mirror's surface changed to reflect a different Sam sitting on a motel bed. The Sam in the mirror was miserable looking, looking like he hadn't had a shower or changed his clothes in days. He played with the cell phone in his hand, one minute dialing, the next deleting it and just gazing sadly at the phone's display.

"Sammy…" Dean whispered as he recognized the brother whom he had left in the past and who currently was on his own.

As Dean watched his brother, _the door behind Sam opened and into the room, stepped a blonde man who was dressed in Dean-like clothes. Sam jumped up in shock. _

"_Who are you?" he hissed._

"_Sammy, I just came to thank you for setting me free. And to reward you of course," The man grinned._

"_Lucifer…" Sam said, "I don't want anything from you, absolutely nothing so you can just leave!"_

"_Ah, Sammy. I know that you don't mean that, now do you?" Lucifer said as he sat down on the bed and made himself comfortable. _

_He grinned up at Sam who was still glaring at him. "I see that you and Dean have gone your separate ways."_

"_Leave Dean out of this!" Sam growled._

"_You're right. This has to do with you and I," Lucifer pondered, "I'll still have to deal with Dean eventually. Especially since my brothers are busy trying to get him on board with killing me," he sighed, "but that's for another time and place__.__ Now what would you like as your reward and no, I won't take no for an answer."_

"_How about you go back to the hell from where you came from, huh?" Sam replied._

"_Sam, Sam…I can see now that you're not going to change your mind that easily now are you…?" Lucifer said as he stood up and approached him. _

_As Sam backed up, Lucifer said in a voice dripping with honey, "Now Sam, you're going to be a good boy and listen to me." _

_Lucifer came up close to Sam and with his hands filled with a bright white light, he grabbed Sam's head._

Dean watched in horror as Sam collapsed in Lucifer's arms, when the mirror became engulfed in the same white light as he was treated to the same images Lucifer was showing Sam.

_Mary Winchester dressed in her night grown with the bloody gash in__ her__ stomach appeared, "Sam, YOU caused this! If it weren't for you I __would still be alive__ still would have lived!"_

_Jessica joined Mary, "Sam, YOU could have saved me! WHY did you let me die? It is all your fault!" _

_As they yelled accusations towards Sam over and over again, Sam was on the floor curled into himself whispering over and over again, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

_Madison joined Mary and Jessica in circling Sam and just bombarding him with feelings of guilt._

_Just as it seemed that Sam would cave in from all the accusations, the women stopped the yelling chant._

_Out of the darkness, a man approached the circle where Sam was lying. As he approached, the light hit his face illuminating it revealing who he was… _

Back in the destroyed motel room, Dean gasped in horror at the man's image in the mirror- the man was himself.

_Sam had noticed that the ranting had stopped and looked up from where he was lying. A hopeful expression lit up his face and he whispered, "Dean", as pseudo Dean came up to him. _

_Any help that Sam thought would come from pseudo Dean went up in flames as Dean knelt down and sneered at Sam. "Hello, little brother."_

"_Dean, please help…" Sam begged. _

"_Help with what, Sammy?" Dean gestured around at the women waiting silently behind him, "You started this, you started the apocalypse, and you unleashed Lucifer on an unsuspecting world. You are the ultimate monster, the kind that lurks behind puppy eyed looks and apparent gentleness. You disgust me!" _

_With every word that fell from Dean's mouth, Sam flinched. "No, Dean. Please don't say that! You don't mean that, you don't…" Sam sobbed._

_"Of course I do. I've been thinking it all along." Dean whispered, his lips curling into a snarl. "I figure it's about damn time somebody told you the truth. You're nothing more than a monster, Sam. And I sure as hell don't need you in MY life. You're nothing to me. NOTHING!"_

_With a final roar of anger, pseudo Dean disappeared in a burst of light along with the others, leaving Sam trembling and sobbing on the floor. Sam looked up, tears streaking down his face when he heard the soft, gentle voice behind him._

_"And HE'S the one that supposedly cares about you!? I'm sorry, but I just…I don't see it, Sammy." Sam sat up straighter as he looked into Lucifer's eyes._

_Hiccupping a little, Sam replied, "And you care? You just want me to give in to you so you can do with me what you want…"_

_Lucifer nodded, "Yes, you are right." _

_He leaned towards Sam, "BUT I will never ever lie to you. I won't sugarcoat things or keep any secrets from you, not like Dean."_

_Lucifer reached out and run his hand down Sam's hair, causing Sam's eyes to flutter close. Sighing, Sam leaned into the touch which was like how Dean or his dad used to comfort him as a little boy._

"_Sammy, just tell me what you want." Lucifer whispered, delighting in the fact that Sam was giving in to his touch. _

"_I…I…just want things to be like they were before…"_

"_Sam, Sam. You know that I just can't do that. What do you really want? I think I know—how about Dean on his knees saying sorry to you for doubting you. For treating you as the little brother who doesn't know what's right?"_

"_Sammy? Please, please forgive me." A broken whisper came from the darkness as a figure dressed in rags crawled towards the circle._

Back in the ruined hotel, Dean looked on as Lucifer paraded his hell-broken self for Sam. He had never wanted Sam to see him like that--how he ended up broken by hell.

He sneaked a glance at the Sam who was still standing in the hotel with him. Sam was smirking at the mirror obviously enjoying seeing a broken Dean.

Dean couldn't stand it any more. "How did he manage to break you, Sam? How?"

"Well, Dean. I must admit that My Lord had quite the tough time breaking your Sam. You should be proud of him, he held out much longer under My Lord's torture and manipulations than any of the others.

Sam smiled a gentle smile. "But Dean, you of all people should know about the temptations of hell, what one would do to stop the torture."

He gestured back to the mirror, "Your Sam broke, but he still had faith in you, Dean—he still fought so My Lord finally devised a plan to make him give in fully.

Dean shuddered not liking the implication that he had something to do with Sam giving into Lucifer, but he turned back to the mirror.

_Sam battered and broken was lying in the circle calling out for Dean. Lucifer stood gazing at him. "Sammy, my dear Sammy. Why don't you give in, it is futile to call for Dean. I killed him myself a month ago so he isn't coming for you ever._

_It didn't seem to affect Sam who just lay there, chanting Dean's name like a mantra._

"_Okay, if you have to be that way, I know what to do."_

_Sighing, he bent and gently touched Sam's dirty hair, sending him into a deep sleep._

"What did he do?!" Dean demanded of Sam.

"Wait and see…" Sam replied as the mirror transformed its surface once again.

_Sam looked well groomed, dressed in his usual clothes sitting on a bed gazing intensely at the laptop screen. It was obvious that he was researching for something. Sam looked different-- his long hair looked a little shorter and darker. He seemed to be rather relaxed. _

Quite unlike the Sam who had been with Dean through the past year. That Sam was constantly on edge as a result of sneaking out with Ruby and keeping secrets from Dean. This Sam currently in the mirror resembled the Sam from before…before they had both discovered what the angels and demons wanted from them both.

As Dean gazed at the mirror, he muttered in disbelief, "I don't understand."

"You'll understand soon enough." Sam replied behind him.

_As he spoke, the door opened and the mirror Sam looked up with a bright welcoming smile at the person who entered. _

"_Hey Dude. I found a few interesting cases which might be our thing."_

"_Sure, Sammy. Let's pack and hit the road and you can tell me all about it."_

"_Okay, Dean." Sam got up from the bed and started to get his things together._

"_Dean" smiled evilly as little burn marks started to burn his face and Lucifer's face replaced his._

Standing in the hotel, Dean was shell shocked. Sam wouldn't cave in until Lucifer had to take drastic measures and convince Sam that he was Sam's big brother. That he was _Dean._

In Dean's mind, there could only be one big brother to Sam and that was him. The one who took care of Sam after their mother was murdered by Azazel and their father lost in grief, the one who raised Sam to be the man he was.

He had to get back to the past and get to Sam so he could protect him.

But something still bothered him about the whole thing. "Why the hell are you telling me this?" Dean asked of Sam. "All I know—you like having Lucifer as your "brother". Why change that?"

Sam sighed, "What makes you think that I'm here because of Lucifer? I just might be here because of your Sam's last heartfelt wish."

As he spoke, evil Sam started to shimmer and change. There stood Sammy complete with his hoodie and his puppy eyes.

"My wish was that you'd be able to save me…" Sammy whispered quietly.

"Sammy…" as Dean took a step forward about to touch Sam, still not quite believing what he was seeing, Sam flickered and disappeared.

"Dean, did you learn anything useful?" Castiel asked standing behind Dean.

Dean turned around to face Castiel and realized that he was back in the hotel where he had been before he began his trip to the future. A little overwhelmed with what he just saw in the future, he nodded, "Yeah, I did. We've got to go and get Sam, 'cause we've got work to do."

With that he opened the motel door and walked out into the inky black night.

Alone in the room, Castiel smiled.


End file.
